Thursday, March 05, 2015

Your Neighbor's Home

If you are trying to sell your house but your neighbor's house is a disaster, that's going to cost you too in terms of a reduced price for your home.

A neighbor's overgrown yard, peeling paint and clutter can easily knock 10% or more off the value of your home. A true disaster - a home in deplorable condition and a yard packed with debris - could cost you even more. It might even make your home unmarketable because most potential buyers will not even look at it.

So, what can you do?

Keep in mind that your goal is to get the neighbor's property cleaned up. It's going to take some work and possibly some expense on your part to accomplish that. You may be upset with the neighbor but that will not help get the job done

An adversarial approach, such as reporting them to the authorities or a homeowner's association, usually does not work and may make you more frustrated. All it does is make people mad and angry people can cause a lot of problems. You'll also have limited success if you ask them to personally do the work that needs to be done.

You'll have a much better chance of success by offering to do the work yourself. This can mean your labor and possibly some expense but given the effect on the value of your home, spending some money to improve the neighbor's house may be money well spent.

You can minimize the task by organizing a crew of your family and friends to help. Plan what needs to be done and pick a day to do it. Assign jobs to your crew and fortify them with food and drinks. Once your neighbor sees what you're doing they'll often feel guilty and pitch in and help.

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